Lawless
Oct 2, 20166 min
‘’Mates call me Doc, you can’t choose your nickname!’’ Doc real name is Michael Wood, the owner of the Fat Fatboy. Doc is a dentist by trade (Hence the nickname) who moved to the Wollongong area 11 years ago from the mining town of Kalgoorlie and hasn’t looked back ‘’Riding over there wasn’t a great load of fun, it was straight road after straight road, over here’s awesome!’’ He reckons. Doc was actually brought up in Perth and has practiced in Albany and Denmark also. It was a change of life and a change of life which enticed Doc to the East Coast.
Doc has ridden motorcycles from the day he was old enough to get his licence and had a somewhat fascination for two stroke road bikes the likes of the Suzuki RD400 and GT750 “smelly but good fun’’ he says. Ten years ago he finally had enough of the, what he liked to call water buckets and invested in a Kawasaki ZX1200. The ZX was a little too quick so he decided to get something a little more obliging (he actually said slow) and brought his first Harley, a 2005 Fatboy straight off the showroom floor and before the first service was due Doc and his mates Wayne Rutty (Eight Ball Customs) and Bob Mayne had the bike back at Bob’s garage and the virgin bike stripped down and with Wayne wielding the gas axe the front end was cut off and raked an approx. 4 degrees (No measurements were taken and the work was done by eye) and longer fork legs were fitted and like many that have been bitten by the bug bike customising is much like car customising or even tattoos the problem is once bitten where does its stop and after the rake the bike was still very much standard, so what does a bloke do? Easy, throw a wide arse rear end on it! But this decision was much like your first tatt, get your mate to do it first, Doc’s mate Darren Dredge was also in the market for a Fat arse rear end so he was the Guinee Pig as Doc put it and they cut the arse end out of his bike and worked out any kinks before attacking Doc’s bike. The wide arse rear end they decided to run with was a Zodiac kit with a 1’’ offset on the primary. The rear guard was swapped out for a 2007 Fatboy standard guard which was widened and a Custom Dynamics LED tail light and the number plate Frenched (recessed) into it by Oscar from Illawarra Collision repairs Unanderra. The stock late model Strut covers were used to maintain the stock look and an Ultima seat fitted.
It was around three and a half years ago that the bug bit again and Doc was wanting a little more from the original 88ci Harley motor and so decided to supercharge it with a Pro Charger from Glen Braidwood Horse Power World at Albury- Wodonga. Once fitted Doc found the bike was now chewing through more fuel, so he wanted a bigger tank and found a tank online from the USA which was already widened 3’’ each side and held 27 litres . When the tank arrived and he opened the box he thought ‘’ what have I done? The thing looks like a cartoon’’ but once mounted on the bike he opinion waived and he then thought the tank looked really good. The Pro-Charger didn’t come without its drama’s and issues in the early stages, initially when the bike was Dyno it had a Power Commander 3 CCU and whilst it was on the Dyno the oil cap kept blowing off and Doc and the technicians knew there must have been something wrong and on further investigation they found that a piston had cracked. The motor was rebored and a new piston put in but it was still hard to tune so Doc decided to change out the Power Commander system for a Thunder Max, dialled in the air fuel ratio and it hasn’t missed a beat, “it still uses a lot of juice, but if you want it to go it’s going to use fuel!’’ (Yes Doc it will!). The oversize tank also has the bonus cosmetically by covering the air cleaner and Pro-Charger which may not suit every bike but gives this bike that oversize look, but also has it’s draw backs, Doc has long legs and has no problem reaching the pegs but he did have to extend the pegs 1’’ off the frame with a couple of blocks he had wire cut custom made just so he could get his feet out a little. Another issue was the primary cover, the primary had to be changed and the ground clearance was limited on the left side. Doc’s remedy ‘’you just ride around it and just wear away the bottom half of the primary!’’
The stock Pro-Charger 88ci motor was recorded at 121HP and 165NM of torque, since that time the Fat Fatboy has undergone more work and the 88ci has been replaced with a 96ci motor and has not been Dyno Tuned yet to get its figures. Doc says it just goes fast enough.
The bike has gone through many changes and transformations through the years, the Handlebars have be changed twice, which Doc described as being a bit of a mission cutting and resoldering wires and anyone who has done it would have to agree (The bars he chose to keep and displayed in the photos are a set of 1 ½’’ Burleigh Mid Westerns). At 500klms Doc decided to swap out the first set of pipes (Vance and Hines Staggered Big Shots) for a set of V&H Big Radius, which lasted 7 years. Worn out and in need of replacing Doc decided to fit a set of Freedom Performance Big Curve pipes, Freedoms equivalent to the Big Radius. The Zodiac wide arse kits Swing-arm was chromed and a set of Performance machine Marquee rims 16’’ at the front 18’’ the rear replaced the stock rims. Another notable addition was the RSD (Roland Sands) clear derby cover Doc purchased from Rollies Speed Shop which was fitted to show off the AIM variable clutch kit (The AIM variable clutch uses the stock clutch springs and works very similar to a centre force clutch on cars). Because the Pro-Charger runs pretty hot Doc decided to fit a Jagg thermostat oil cooler adapter. Doc looks at the bike now and thinks how many radiators can an air cooled bike have? But still thinks it looks cool! All the lines have been braided and the hand controls are Zodiac, the grips are OEM Harley Davidson. Foot controls, Performance Machine the front calliper was wisely swapped out for a 6 spotter Hawg Halter calliper and Doc kept the original 4 spot calliper on the rear.
Doc chose the base coat of the bike using his VE SS Holden Ute’s colour as inspiration and was laid down on the bikes massive tank by Tony and Tyron Lacey and Six Star Signs were given artistic licence with the graphics and the Lacey’s then laid down the clear.
The fat Fatboy doesn’t get ridden as much as it used to because Doc now has a bagger for the long runs, but the Fatty can hold its own when it comes to long runs. Doc and wife Janet rode to Perth a couple of years back, wife Janet on her beloved sporty and Doc on the Fatty. The ride took 5 days each way in 47 degree heat straight across the Nullarbor and knowing how Doc felt about straight roads the 141klm stretch of straight must have been doing his head in ‘’Yeah the Pro-Charger didn’t like it and neither did we!’’
On the moonscape landscape in her Martian green bikini is 20 year old Alyse. Alyse works in retail and does some part time bartending and promo work. A self-described Tom-Boy when it comes to hobbies, Alyse loves motorbikes, cars, camping and fishing. You can always find Alyse at her favourite beach (not tellin’ ya) and she loves to Party but family is the most important thing and her favourite body part is her eye’s (I know wasn’t my first choice) and oh yeah Alysa is single and lovin’it!